The aim of this project is to develop a biopsychosocial model that explains how sociodemographic, biosocial, behavioral factors interact with one another to lead to differential oral health in later life. Oral aging indicators examined in this project include tooth count, tooth decay, periodontal disease, and oral symptoms such as dry mouth and difficulty chewing foods. We will examine the effect on oral aging of the proposed mechanisms including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, health care use and availability, chronic health conditions, psychological and cognitive characteristics, and biological risk factors. We will specifically examine the age patterns of the relationship between oral health and various biopsychosocial factors in order to understand the evidence of earlier aging manifested by the higher presence at a given age of oral health problems in some subgroups of the population such as the poor and members of some racial and ethnic minority groups. We are particularly interested in looking at the link between some biological risk factors and oral health including indicators of inflammatory, immune and metabolic system processes, and bone density. This project will use the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006, and 1988-1994 for mortality-linked analyses and analyses with CMV. NHANES-mortality linked data set will allow us to develop healthy life expectancy based on oral health indicators such as years of life without periodontal disease and years of life with natural teeth. A rich set of examined dental measures and potential mechanisms including biomarkers measured in NHANES provides an unparalleled opportunity to systematically and comprehensively study how mechanisms interact with one another to produce oral health and how some groups of our population get to poorer oral health outcomes, which can be an indicator of earlier aging. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It is important to understand how demographic, socioeconomic, psychological, medical and biological factors interact to produce oral health disparities across population subgroups in the United States. Better understanding the mediating factors and their interactions would not only help reduce the disparities of oral health among different populations, but it would also help provide strategies to improve oral health status. In addition, given that oral health status can be related to major chronic conditions related to aging, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, it is important to understand interacting mechanisms by which oral health care and other medical care can be coordinated to improve overall health status.